Humility

Abstract

Humility is a virtue that is lauded across major religious and spiritual traditions around the world. It has long been suggested that humility is associated with better health outcomes. This chapter reviews the literature (N = 89 studies) on associations between humility, health, and well-being, with a critical eye toward spirituality. Specifically, we consider evidence for both salubrious and deleterious associations of humility with physical health, depression, anxiety, life satisfaction, and meaning in life. Notably, positive associations of humility with well-being were typically small, and on occasion, humility was predictive of less well-being. We discuss contextual factors that may account for these differential associations between humility and health, followed by a review of the preliminary work of humility interventions. We conclude by discussing the limitations of prior work on humility, health, and well-being, and by offeringsuggestions for future research on humility and health outcomes.